Night-time found Jason laying in a bed, staring at the ceiling. He was exhausted after the strangest and most dangerous day of his entire life, but his mind refused to retreat into sleep. Shoving off the covers, he opened his inventory to throw on one of his new outfits.

The group had claimed bedrooms in a row on the top floor. A shared balcony connected all the rooms, each accessible through French doors. Jason opened his set of doors and wandered out. He rested his hands on the balustrade and looked up at the sky. In a massive field of stars, a pair of moons shone bright, one half moon and one crescent.

“I really am in a different world.”

“You’re just figuring that out?” Rufus’ voice came from behind.

Jason turned to see Rufus emerging from his own room. He walked over and joined Jason in leaning on the balustrade.

“Couldn’t sleep either?” Jason asked.

“I’m on watch,” Rufus said. “We don’t think the cultists will come back, but they’ve surprised us before. We’re rotating turns through the night.”

“Didn’t want me to take a turn?” Jason asked.

“Honestly? No.”

Jason chuckled.

“Good call.”

He turned his gaze back to the sky.

“So why aren’t you sleeping?” Rufus asked. “I would have thought you’d be out the moment you hit the sheets.”

“Everything that happened today just keeps running through my head,” Jason said. “I was concussed for most of it, so it feels like it wasn’t me, somehow. But it was me. It was my hands I washed the blood from.”

“You were impressive today. We’d be dead if it wasn’t for you.”

“It didn’t feel impressive. It felt like a perpetual state of desperation and panic. I think all the blows to the head may have helped, strangely enough. My head hurt like hell, but I was too punch-drunk to really think about what was happening. Otherwise I would have freaked out and hidden under a table.”

“I don’t believe that,” Rufus said. “I’ve seen a lot of adventurers. Most you can teach, but some will never have what it takes. Others…”

He patted Jason in the shoulder

“… others take to it like it’s what they were born for. You’ve got the stuff, Jason.”

Jason sighed. “It doesn’t feel like I’ve got the stuff. Not the stuff you’re talking about, anyway. When I first woke up here, I had no idea of what was happening or where I was. I didn’t think any of this was real. The best explanation was that I’d gone mad and it was all in my head.”

“You thought I was imaginary?” Rufus asked.

“By the time I met you,” Jason said, “I was past stopping to contemplate. I was too busy scrambling from one deadly situation to the next.”

“You certainly arrived in rough circumstances.”